FOOD SECURITY AND LIVELIHOOD ASSESSMENT REPORT

Transcription

1 April 2018 FOOD SECURITY AND LIVELIHOOD ASSESSMENT REPORT NORTH-EAST NIGERIA Conducted by: ADRA Nigeria

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACRONYMS 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4 A. INTRODUCTION 6 B. OBJECTIVES 7 C. DATA COLLECTION 7 a. Sampling 7 b. Data Collection Instruments 8 i. Household survey: 8 ii. Key Informant Interviews: 8 iii. Focus Group Discussion: 8 c. Strengths and Limitations 9 D. ASSESSMENT FINDINGS OF THE AFFECTED POPULATION 10 a. Household Composition 10 b. Food Security Findings 11 i. Food Consumption Scores (FCS) 11 ii. Reduced Coping Strategy Index 13 c. Market Assessment in LGA Hong and LGA Konduga 14 d. Protection Findings for Vulnerable Population 16 i. Protection 16 ii. Gender Based Challenges 17 iii. Risk Assessment and Mitigation Mechanisms 18 E. SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS 20

3 ACRONYMS No. Acronym English 1 ADRA Adventist Development and Relief Agency 2 DTM Displacement Tracking Matrix 3 FCS Food Consumption Scores 4 FGD Focus Group Discussion GBV Gender Based Violence 5 HNO Humanitarian Needs Overview 6 IDP Internally Displaced Person 7 IOM International Organization for Migration 8 IYCF Infant and Young Child Feeding 9 KII Key Informant Interview 10 LGA Local Government Area 11 NFI Non-Food Item 12 NGO Non-Governmental Organization 13 RCSI Reduced Coping Strategy Index 14 SoE State of Emergency 15 GFO Germany Foreign Office 16 WASH Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Food Security and Livelihood Assessment Report ADRA Nigeria, April

4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This assessment is made possible by the generous support of the German people through the German Federal Foreign Office. The contents are the responsibility of The Adventist Development and Relief Agency Nigeria (ADRA) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the German Federal Foreign Office Food Security and Livelihood Assessment Report ADRA Nigeria, April

5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ADRA Nigeria (henceforth ADRA) implemented a food security program in North-East Nigeria specifically in Jakana in Borno and Mararaba Mubi in Adamawa states with funding from German Foreign Office (GFO) and the ADRA Network since The main objective of the assessment was to ascertain conditions of the food security and livelihoods programs, market functionality, and Multi-Purpose Grant (MPG) cash feasibility updates in the communities. The sample targeted all IDPs, Returnees and host community members, including those not assisted by ADRA. This report presents the assessment findings from a food security and livelihood assessment carried out in Adamawa and Borno States, North-Eastern Nigeria. Data were gathered using a mixed method in January and February The following are some major findings: Average household size is nearly 8 members (8.2) with a dependency ratio of 2:1 Numbers of households who depend on farming as their primary source of income and livelihood depreciated from 73%, prior to the conflict, to 56% presently due to limited access to farmlands because of military restriction and fear of attack by insurgents Present average household spending on food during the time of the assessment is 10,000 NGN (27.7USD) 12% of the people have received food assistance from different humanitarian agency in the last 30 days Food Consumption Scores recorded an aggregate score of 55% of households within the poor food consumption category with Hong recording 35.3 and Konduga having 75 Aggregate Reduced Coping Strategy Index is 17.1 with Hong recording 14.1 and Konduga having 19.4 All assessed communities have functional markets with an average of 57 retailers doing business in the community and the respondents believe that the market has capacity to respond to increased demand Lack of capital is the major challenge affecting the functionality of the market despite other challenges like insecurity, transportation, etc. There have been significant changes upwards in the prices of food and non-food items in the market compared to the same period last year but this is not a major factor affecting market functionality 54% of the respondents admitted that there were no formal complaints mechanisms for them to register their dissatisfaction with Humanitarian services in their communities Domestic violence is the most re-occurring gender-based violence in the assessed communities, which is mostly associated with idleness of the population in camps and meager resources Food Security and Livelihood Assessment Report ADRA Nigeria, April

6 Humanitarian intervention was still predominately response and assistance rather than mitigation and/or early warning and recovery 48% of the respondents confirmed that the responses from humanitarian organizations did not come as early as expected The report indicated a need for humanitarian agencies to deliver timely assistance and also design the most appropriate assistance for the people in need including early recovery and livelihoods programs among others in areas that have relative security and stability Food Security and Livelihood Assessment Report ADRA Nigeria, April

7 A. INTRODUCTION Since 2009, North-East Nigeria has been affected by insecurity because of armed conflict between the Nigerian security forces and the Armed Opposition Groups of Boko Haram and the Jama at Ahl al-sunnah Lil Dawa Wal Jihad (translated as Association of the Preaching of the Prophet, and the Teaching of War in Hausa). Nearly 1,782,490 individuals are currently displaced in the affected states (IOM DTM XXI, 2018). Prior to the conflict, North-Eastern Nigeria had already suffered from high malnutrition rates and insufficient access to basic services, with over 50% of the population earning under $1.40 per day. Between 2010 and 2013 poverty levels in all Nigeria s regions decreased, except for the North-East, where the percentage of people in poverty increased by 3.1% (HNO, 2016). The chronic under-development in the North-East region, coupled with poverty, illiteracy, and youth unemployment, contributed to the spark in violence. Due to growing attacks and increasing population displacement, the Government of Nigeria declared a State of Emergency (SoE) in the northeastern states of Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe (HNO, 2016). According to the 2017 Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO), Insecurity related to Boko Haram and government military counter operations continues to affect 26 million people living in North-East Nigeria. The number of people in need of humanitarian assistance is estimated to be 14 million. Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe States are the most directly affected by conflict and mass forced displacement with Bauchi, Gombe, and Taraba largely affected by hosting some of the displaced. In an already economically deprived region, nearly 80% of 1.8 million IDPs live with host communities, placing a huge strain on infrastructure and resources. As areas previously held by Boko Haram become accessible, a section of people with urgent needs are within limited reach of government and humanitarian partner assistance. However, the response is not currently able to meet all the needs, as some areas are still largely inaccessible. The dire humanitarian situation found in these areas suggests that those still unreachable are also in critical need. According to the 2017 HNO, of the 14 million people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, 5.8M were food insecure, and 14 million needed early recovery and livelihood assistance. The report further indicated that 6.7 million were in need of nutrition care and 3 million were in need of education. The rise in the activities of humanitarian actors in the region since then has helped save lives but the humanitarian needs still persist as the armed conflict remains protracted. One of such humanitarian actor is the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA). ADRA is a global development and humanitarian organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church that works with the most vulnerable communities around the world. Through an international network, ADRA delivers relief and development assistance to individuals in more than 140 countries regardless of their ethnicity, political affiliation, or religious association. By partnering with communities, organizations, and governments, ADRA is able to improve the quality of one life at a time through key impact areas of Hunger & Nutrition, Animals & Food Security and Livelihood Assessment Report ADRA Nigeria, April

8 Agriculture, Economic Opportunity, Clean Water & Sanitation, Women, Girls, & Gender, Disaster Relief, Community Health, Education, Protection, Children and Social Justice. When disaster strikes, ADRA is always there to work and assist those in need. Once the urgent need has passed, ADRA s already long-established presence in local communities means we stay to provide ongoing support, ensure rehabilitation and continue long-term development work for sustainable change. In Nigeria, ADRA has supported more than 96,516 direct Beneficiaries and about 579,096 indirect beneficiaries in Borno and Adamawa states with Food Security, Livelihoods, Shelter and NFIs and Nutrition through in kind distributions, Cash transfers and Multi-Purpose Grant (MPG) services since their arrival into North-East Nigeria in 2015 to-date B. OBJECTIVES The main objective of the assessment was to understand the food security and livelihood status of Konduga Local Government Area (LGA) Borno state and Hong LGA of Adamawa state in which ADRA operates with food security and MPG programs. It also gauged the relevant intervention for the populace of these communities, specifically: Food security and livelihood status of targeted communities Understanding market functionality Feasibility of MPG Cash transfers and its drivers Protection and risk related issues in relation to the modalities of assistance in place. C. DATA COLLECTION The assessment was solely based on raw primary data. Data collection was done using household surveys, key informant interviews (KIIs), and focus group discussions (FGDs). The assessment team sent three survey teams to two Local Government Areas, located in Konduga in Borno and Hong in Adamawa states, while maintaining their coordination base in Maiduguri, which is ADRA Nigeria s regional Sub-office. A research lead and a research assistant conducted KIIs with community leaders at community levels. The ADRA assessment teams comprised of one team leader, five research assistants, and one ADRA support staff. a. Sampling A random sample of 220 individual households were taken in Jakana (LGA Konduga, Borno) and 187 in Mararaba Mubi (LGA Hong, Adamawa). 20 FGDs were administered in both locations, with 10 FGDs per location. Six KIIs were administered in each of the locations. ADRA used convenience Food Security and Livelihood Assessment Report ADRA Nigeria, April

9 and snowball-sampling methods to recruit households headed by women, children, elderly, and disabled people. b. Data Collection Instruments i. Household survey: ADRA developed a comprehensive household survey to assess the food security and livelihood status of the aforementioned locations at the household level. The questionnaires were administered to the heads of the households as preferences, which were mainly headed by women, children, elderly, and disabled people. In some cases, the representative of the household would be interviewed in case the head was not available and this accounted for about 0.05% of the total administered surveys. Specific questions that focused interest to food consumption score, reduced coping strategy index, protection and GBV, market conditions, security, transfer modality preferences were of keen interest to ADRA s team. ADRA research assistants administered the surveys in English, Pidgin English, or Hausa and Kanuri. Because not all participants provided meaningful responses to each question of the household survey, the sample size varies for a few questions. The survey included questions that allow for multiple responses and, as a result, the sum of the corresponding percentages exceeds 100%. All figures shown in this report were rounded to the nearest whole number. ii. Key Informant Interviews: The team developed separate KII guides for different types of key informants: state and LGA personnel across sectors, non-governmental organization (NGO) staff, community leaders, commodity dealers and market leaders. To triangulate data elicited from other instruments, ADRA worded the questions in these guides to correspond to GFSS objectives. A total of 12 key informant interviews were conducted during the exercise. iii. Focus Group Discussion: ADRA developed three categories of FGDs questions. One to determine the risks associated with the members of the community during the course of existence and humanitarian response activities. Also, the other category is to elucidate the various protection issues that usually emanate within the community and during the course of humanitarian intervention. It helped in assessing gender dynamics and the seasonality of food availability. Food Security and Livelihood Assessment Report ADRA Nigeria, April

10 Through the gender FGD, ADRA examined individuals perceptions of gender roles in agricultural production, processing, sales, and food preparation. ADRA s FGDs on seasonality of food availability asked small groups to construct 12-month food calendars describing the trends in their community in terms of seasonal consumption, availability, and affordability of 12 groups of foods (Kennedy et al. 2011). This was done to measure the level of involvement of family members in household agricultural production and livelihoods contributions from family members. The compositions of the FGDs were limited at 8 20 participants, segregated by gender. Each of the groups took approximately an hour to administer. The table below shows a summary of the various data collection Instruments/Methods used in this assessment as described above; Primary Data Collection Methods Konduga Hong Total Household surveys Key informant interviews Focus group discussions c. Strengths and Limitations Strengths To support the triangulation of findings, ADRA s assessment teams used multiple qualitative data collection methods and recruited respondents of various levels and diverse backgrounds. The survey drew questions from proven instruments, including standard Food Security and Livelihood like Food Consumption Scores (FCS) and Reduced Coping Strategy index (rcsi). In collecting these data, we used a food group s list that includes indigenous and commonly consumed foods in Nigeria based on previous in-country work and food basket recommended by the food security sector. Limitations ADRA teams purposively visited communities where the priority activities implementations were located and more than 65% of the respondents were from ADRA s current beneficiaries in the two locations that Mararaba Mubi and Jakana. Hence findings were not generalizable within or between states, agro-ecological, or geopolitical zones but were an assumed representation of the similar communities of the States. Sample sizes for select indicators measured on young children aged 6 8 months (introduction of solid, semi-solid, or soft foods) and months (continued breastfeeding at 1 year) were very small (n<10); therefore, these results were not reported on these two indicators especially on vivid nutritional levels and vulnerability. The assessment team kept to markets functionality, food security and protection and did not go into in-depth nutritional levels. Food Security and Livelihood Assessment Report ADRA Nigeria, April

11 D. ASSESSMENT FINDINGS OF THE AFFECTED POPULATION a. Household Composition 63% of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) households in the locations are headed by elderly persons or women compared to 20 % of the host community and 7% of the returnees. Female and elderly headed households are more likely exposed to protection risks. The assessment revealed an average household size of 8 (8.2 to be exact) persons/people per households ( person is defined as living under same roof and eating from same pot) with a standard deviation of 3. In the findings, 5.6% of average household had a dependent population of children less than 18 years old and adults above 60 years old. This brings the dependency ratio of the households assessed to 2.1%. Majority (73%) of these households were dependent on farming as their primary source of income and livelihood prior to the conflict. However, the figure has been reduced to 56% because of limited access to their farmlands due to military restriction and fear of attack by insurgents. In addition, the 27% who depended on business and trading as their primary means of livelihood before the insurgency also reduced to 12%. This group was predominantly involved in petty trading as a primary source of income and livelihood, although with insignificant capital that ranged between 20,000-40,000 NGN (equivalent to USD). Children Headed Household Female headed household Elderly headed household Household with Persons with Disability 5% 1% 40% 54% Food Security and Livelihood Assessment Report ADRA Nigeria, April

12 b. Food Security Findings On the average, the surveyed households spend about 10,000 NGN (about 27.7 USD), getting food from the market, where the majority (84%) of the respondents get food. They usually fetch firewood to prepare their food, but alternatively resort to coal and kerosene hence diverting part of the food assistance cash transferred or sell part of the food given In-kind to acquire charcoal to enable them prepare meals for households. In the last 30 days, only about 12% of the people have received food assistance from another humanitarian agency, every month on most occasions in Hong (Mararaba Mubi). Sixty-six percent of this group has received food support from ADRA while others get food support from Christian Aid, the International Red Cross, Churches, and government agencies. Some of this food assistance from other Agencies apart from ADRA has been at times a one-time off distribution and therefore not consistent. i. Food Consumption Scores (FCS) Food Consumption Scores is a standard food security and livelihood indicator used to assess the frequency of food groups consumed by households within a recall period of 7 days before the survey. Aggregate result from this assessment shows that 55% of residence in the assessed locations are within the poor category therefore need urgent food support, 27% are within borderline category, which need to be monitored so that their food security status does not fall into the poor category. The remaining 18% were within the acceptable food consumption. In Hong (Mararaba Mubi), where ADRA does in-kind food assistance, the distributed food items were mainly maize corns, maize porridge, rice, sorghum, millet pasta, and other cereals. The participants preference for In-kind was mainly because of skepticism with Cash Transfers caused by negative past experiences with other agencies; they included insufficient cash amount to buy enough food on markets and insufficient market capacity at the time to facilitate or streamline food distribution. However, in Jakana, Borno State, where ADRA shifted from in-kind to Cash Transfers on January 2018, the results of preferences were quite different from Mararaba Mubi; in the FDGs, over 95% of the participants expressed total willingness to continue using Cash Transfer over the In-kind modality. According to the findings on the weighted food security scale, 35% of the respondents had a poor rating while about 33% were on the borderline and only 32% were on acceptable rating. There was evidently a food security crisis in these locations that required very urgent response. Food Security and Livelihood Assessment Report ADRA Nigeria, April

13 Chart 3: Food Security Score in Hong/Mararaba mubi Acceptabl e (>35), 32.09% Poor (0-21), 35.29% Borderline ( ), 32.62% Chart 4: Food Security Score in Konduga: Acceptable (>35), 3.18% Borderline ( ), 20.91% Poor (0-21), 75.91% However, in Konduga, the food security outlook requires even more urgent attention because nearly 21% of the households were on the borderline and 75% with poor rating, whereas 3% were on acceptable rating (see Chart 4). Food Security and Livelihood Assessment Report ADRA Nigeria, April

14 ii. Reduced Coping Strategy Index The households gave some useful insights about their coping mechanisms, especially in the face of low income and food shortage. Majority of the households relied on less preferred and less expensive food, begging from neighbors, or eat less meals daily as part of their coping mechanisms (see Chart 5). Chart 5: Average rcsi Average rcsi Reduce number of meals eaten in a day 2.1 Restrict consumption by adults in order for small children to eat 1.9 Limit portion size at mealtime 2.3 Borrow food or rely on help from friends or relatives 1.7 Rely on less preferred and less expensive foods The average reduced coping strategy index for the two LGAs assessed during this activity is However, just like the food consumption scores, this indicator shows that households in Konduga were in a more precarious food situation as they record 14.1 in Konduga against 19.4 recorded in Hong. In both locations, majority of households adopt the negative coping mechanism of relying on less preferred and less expensive foods to survive. Food Security and Livelihood Assessment Report ADRA Nigeria, April

15 c. Market Assessment in LGA Hong and LGA Konduga The questionnaire was designed to assess the availability of essential commodities in the market, with specific focus on food, non-food items (NFIs) and hygienic items required in the household. The assessment examined the dynamics of demand and supply of these commodities, and the factors that influenced them. The respondents reported that the market within their community is functional. The assessment team also observed that trucks were available to deliver basic needed items, small markets function on a daily basis, and One-day-time big market that traders from outside townships, including Maiduguri for Jakana in Konduga LGA and Mubi for Mararaba Mubi in Hong LGA operated in both locations. Sizeable warehouse goods for the use of the community members were visibly seen in operation. There was an average of 57 retailers doing business in the community and the respondents believe that the market had the capacity to respond to increased demands. Maize, millet, sugar, and oil were the most required food items in the households. Although there were several security checks around the community area, many (57%) of the respondents mentioned that those security checks do not negatively affect the transportation of their produce but improve security for traders. Chart 6: Factors Affecting the Supply of Food Commodities Factors Affecting the Supply of Food Commodities 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 43% 43% Security Delay Supplies 86% 43% 43% Capital Transport Distance The dearth of capital was due to the lack of feasible HH incomes, financial support, poor and expensive transportation systems due to insecurity and infrastructure. Many (63%) of the respondents believed that access to business capital will boost business activities in their location, in addition to an improved and affordable transport system. Security, distance from main suppliers, delayed supplies were at the same levels at which they affected supply of commodities in these two locations in which the assessment was carried out. Feedbacks from the assessment also showed that there has been a decrease in the price of food commodities in the past three months, which was entirely associated with the harvest periods. Food Security and Livelihood Assessment Report ADRA Nigeria, April

16 It is assumed however that there might be an increase in the price of food commodity as the lean season approaches. Markets: from left; Mararaba Mubi market and Jakana market respectively The table below reveals that palm oil, groundnut, and sugar had minimal increase in prices of staple food items while the rest food commodities accessed recorded reduction in prices. The same trend is recorded in prices of NFI, where 4 out of the 9 commodities accessed during the exercise recorded increase and five recorded slight decrease in prices. Commodity Food Commodities Price last 3 months Current Price Prices of food and non-food Items Non- Food Items % change in Prices Commodity Price last 3 months Current Price % change in Prices Maize % Basins % Beans % Jerry Cans % Palm oil % Buckets % Salt 59 NA Toiletries (soap) % Rice 729 NA Sanitary Materials % Groundnuts % Cleaning materials % Sugar % Plates and Cups % Vegetable oil % Kitchen sets % Onions % Mats, Blankets % Food Security and Livelihood Assessment Report ADRA Nigeria, April

17 To further ascertain the preference of the respondents on the modality of food distribution they would like in case of humanitarian assistance, on average, the majority (53%) preferred Cash Transfer distribution versus 27% who preferred In-kind; 20% desired a combination of both cash and food commodity distribution. The preference for In-kind modality was discussed through the FGDs associated with the likelihood in fluctuations of food commodity prices during lean Preference of Modality Cash, 37% In_kind_and _cash, 20% In_kind, 43% seasons and unreliable markets and insecurity associated with trekking long distances to access markets. d. Protection Findings for Vulnerable Population i. Protection Half of the respondents mentioned that they have received one form of assistance or the other from at least one other agency. Among the respondents who have received support from other agencies, 50% reported that they have been given both food and financial support, respectively. Most (74%) of the respondents were satisfied with the distribution of items in their respective locations given by different humanitarian agencies. Half of this group mentioned that the distribution process was household-based by some agencies while the other half stated that items were distributed at the community level. Although the dissatisfied respondents did not specify which aspect of the distribution they were not pleased with, 54% of the respondents admitted that there were formal complaint mechanisms while a significant 48% said they did not have any complaints system to register their dissatisfactions. However, the majority of the participants resorted to community leaders (39% in Konduga LGA) and (28% in Hong LGA) to resolve issues related to distribution of support/relief items, whereas the others reported their assistance complaints to humanitarian agencies. Food Security and Livelihood Assessment Report ADRA Nigeria, April

18 ii. Gender Based Challenges It is generally known that Insurgency contributed to the main source of violence in the communities surveyed but domestic violence was also reported to be on the high. No, 50% Presence of GBV Yes, 50% Generally, 50% of the total respondents reported that there were gender-based violence (GBV) in the communities either as a result of the insurgency, the community traditions and cultural embracement, and/or lack of good functional systems that would have prohibited the GBV occurrences. The other 50% expressed ignorance of any GBV issues occurring in the two locations. 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Early Marriage Patterns of GBV 13% 13% Rape 63% Domestic Voilence 13% Neglet of girl child Education The findings revealed that GBV is on a high scale as 50% of the respondents admitted that they go through it. The most common type of gender-based violence encountered by the respondents was domestic violence with an equal spread of early marriage, rape, and neglect of girl child education amongst the other respondents. The major causes of such violence were the lack of food and societal beliefs/differences. Women (from young to adult age) were faced with high incidence of sexual violence and physical abuse at home. There were also reported cases of being forced to marry a family member and the risks of being attacked when going to the markets or going to use the latrine at night (there were no lighting along the community latrines used in the camps). It became very clear that sufficient lighting was needed the communities to reduce the incidences of crime, especially against girls and women. Although most of the respondents felt comfortable reporting gender based violence to family members and community leaders, disclosure is still a major challenge primarily because of the fear of being stigmatized. Other reasons included the lack of proximity to a healthy facility, lack Food Security and Livelihood Assessment Report ADRA Nigeria, April

19 of functioning systems in these communities, and victims being unaware that they need to report cases of gender-based violence. Additionally, beneficiaries experienced discrimination in getting access to services by law enforcement authorities, community, political, and religious leaders especially in accessing humanitarian assistance through the influences of the local leaders. There is a likelihood of abuse of the selection criteria if not handled well by humanitarian agencies. iii. Risk Assessment and Mitigation Mechanisms This section examines the level of risk and shocks, particularly for the most vulnerable population among the people. It also sought to know the level of preparedness and mitigation strategies available including, but not limited to, early warnings, evacuation support, recovery, and any other response from government or humanitarian agencies. Many of the respondents (95%) mentioned that insurgency is the main shock they have experienced at the moment. Some of them (33%), most likely the farming population ranked drought as a major shock that confronts them. When these shocks occur, the impacts always result in death, disruption of livelihoods and the displacement of the people to a safer community. The assessment also confirmed that women, Early Recover 5% Response and Assistance 76% Role of Humanitarian Actors Mitigation and Prevention, 19% children, and persons with disabilities are the most affected group of the population. It is however worthy to note that in the case of insurgency, the men were the primary targets for the insurgents in the households. The most of the participants were not aware of any mitigation mechanism in place to prevent reoccurrence, although a few (14%) admitted that there was some security awareness available to them. However, many of the respondents (76%) confirmed that humanitarian agencies played a significant role in helping the community to respond to some of these peculiar shocks. Only 29% of the respondents recognized that there were some measure of government support in emergency response. Although a significant number (48%) of the respondents confirmed that the responses from humanitarian organizations did not come as early as expected, the interviewed community members mentioned that the assistance received were always helpful when they arrived as new IDPs or Returnees. Food Security and Livelihood Assessment Report ADRA Nigeria, April

20 Importantly to note; some people(52%) in the community would prefer that assistance provided by the humanitarian agencies were based on needs, compared to a blanket form of assistance. There was an almost equal number of respondents (48%) who were satisfied with method of providing assistance. However, they also complained of too many unmet needs in the two communities. The following unmet needs were most frequent: food, basic NFIs, clothings materials, hygiene kits, Water supplies, Medication, and education. Needs' Based assistance No 52% Yes 48% Food Security and Livelihood Assessment Report ADRA Nigeria, April

21 E. SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS With more than five humanitarian actors providing food assistance to only 12% of the population of the locations assessed in this activity, there is need for better coordination to ensure the most vulnerable households are prioritized for provision of services and prevent duplication of services. The improvement of coordination at LGAs level would help streamline humanitarian actors to better carry out appropriate identification and avoid double targeting, which would also guide the humanitarian agencies in the same locations to plan together and share challenges and best practices as well on how to meet the most unmet but appealing needs. It is highly recommended that the vulnerable IDPs and host communities that cannot meet their basic food needs should be targeted and prioritized for food assistance as we are approaching the lean season (May/June) due to the restrictions of movement to carry out farming activities. Subsequently, livelihood intervention can be implemented as this will further bolster and increase sustainable local food supply options for households. Given the critical food security situation from the Food Consumption Scores presented above, it could be concluded that though most of the households were in poor food consumption situations, not all households within the assessed locations were equally vulnerable. Therefore, there is an urgent need for provision of food assistance to these population based on defined household vulnerability selection criteria that would take into cognizance household composition. The data also indicated that there were major protection challenges experienced in these locations, especially domestic violence. Therefore, there is a need to integrate gender issues in all the interventions provided. The implementing partners in these locations need to build on existing community structures, especially those with high women participation to empower women and improve the complaints mechanisms in place, sensitize the beneficiaries on the GBV reporting and referral approaches and follow up on GBV cases. Preferably, humanitarian legal aid assistance can be established in these locations. This will be done with the aim of ensuring that all vulnerable members of the households participate in the process and can be supported in case protection issues come up. With functional markets in place in all the locations where the assessment was done, food e- voucher and/or Cash transfer programming were highly recommended in these locations, especially as the preference for the households were on food program. This is particularly important because some of the major challenges mentioned by the respondents were capital and supply of commodities. Based on observations, the markets were functional; there were opportunities for introduction of early recovery and livelihoods activities in both Mararaba mubi (Hong) and Jakana (Konduga). This would progressively reduce the IDPs humanitarian dependence levels in these locations. There is an opportunity to transition from humanitarian Food Security and Livelihood Assessment Report ADRA Nigeria, April

22 assistance to recovery programs in some of the locations assessed especially in Mararaba Mubi, Adamawa state where relative security has started prevailing and all markets and other infrastructures like banks, hospitals, schools were fairly functional. However, early recovery and livelihoods programming must be well designed and monitored to factor in considerations of lean seasons, insecurity, and the lack of proper knowledge of the business management. Therefore, factoring in the livelihoods capacity building component is a necessity and extension services would suffice. There should be scaling up of Multi-Purpose Grants (MPG) to enable beneficiaries to cover more of their needs and in accordance with their immediate needs as they come up instead of tying the assistance to one sector predominant (food security) today but might in the long run change; there is need to give the beneficiaries liberty to deal with the most appealing need as it appears. Major sectors could be combined and use of minimum expenditure basket (MEB) can be used to respond to such most appealing needs as indicated by the respondents above. It is being noted that from the respondents (43%) in Mararaba Mubi, earlier on indicated preference for In-kind food distribution other than Cash transfers. However, with further sensitization about the benefits for Cash transfers and MPG, the beneficiaries would gradually adopt and transition to the Cash transfers as the best transfer modality. Given the benefits of the so far tested MPG in Jakana and other humanitarian actors in Mararaba Mubi, the beneficiaries would realize the importance of the same. With these findings, ADRA intends to scale-up the MPG and e-voucher gradually as a pilot in such locations and set precedence and benchmark for other humanitarian actors in the same locations. This would be done alongside periodical price monitoring to ensure considerations of any price fluctuations during the transfer periods and market changes. Continuous Basic Needs Assessments (BNA) must be done periodically to ensure that the humanitarian assistance is evidence based and guided by the most current trends and situations of the populations in the needy communities. This will in turn guide the design and or modification of the humanitarian responses. Food Security and Livelihood Assessment Report ADRA Nigeria, April

23 ABOUT ADRA The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is the global humanitarian organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Through an international network, ADRA delivers relief and development assistance to individuals in more than 140 countries regardless of their ethnicity, political affiliation, or religious association. By partnering with communities, organizations, and governments, ADRA is able to improve the quality of life of millions through community development and disaster response. Copyright ADRA Nigeria 2018 Food Security and Livelihood Assessment Report ADRA Nigeria, April